Creature Comforts

Your budding scientists can experience the wilds of nature -- without loading up on stinky mosquito spray -- at six cool (read: air-conditioned), eco-friendly, interactive camps inside the Moody Gardens pyramids this week. Groups of kids will investigate topics such as creatures that live on the ocean floor, the wacky ways animals use their heads and tails, and creatures that don't have bones, such as sharks. There will also be a sleep-over camp in the Discovery Pyramid, complete with mini-golf.

Another camp, Keeper for a Day, shows tweens and teens how staff biologists care for the hundreds of different critters residing at Moody Gardens. Both the campers and the animals benefit from this one. The Keepers string up fruits and vegetables for the bats and play with the penguins, blowing bubbles and tossing toys to the cold-weather birds to keep them from getting bored. If only it were that easy to keep your kids entertained. Pyramids Kids Camps run from Thursday, March 11, through Friday, March 19. One Hope Boulevard in Galveston. Registration: 800-582-4673, extension 4320. For information about the different camps and age levels, visit www.moodygardens.com. $17 to $65 per camper. -- Greg Barr

When the folks at the Houston Museum of Natural Science say they're going to blow up some bugs, they're not talking about sticking a firecracker in an anthill. Their latest IMAX offering, Bugs!, explores the tiny universe of insects, magnified 250,000 times their normal size. Creepy? Maybe. Fascinating? Definitely. Opens at 10 a.m. Friday, March 12. One Hermann Circle Drive. For information and additional showtimes, call 713-639-4600 or visit www.hmns.org. $4 to $7. -- Keith Plocek

Natural Nurture

Spring is here again, and Nature is starting to share her bounty, so drag your kids away from the boob tube and take 'em to Armand Bayou Nature Center. As they hike through 2,500 acres of trees, bayous and prairie grasses, they just might spot a bison or two. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. 8500 Bay Area Boulevard. For information, call 281-474-2551 or visit www.abnc.org. $1 to $3. -- Keith Plocek